Affordable Freelancing

Sensei Tyra Seldondiscusses a new report from Commercial Café which surveys the cost of freelancing in various cities. The basic idea is to calculate the base cost of renting an apartment and an office, and take a national average $38 hour charging, estimate how many hours per week is needed in different cities. (The logic here is that freelancers can live anywhere, while charging national rates. Your mileage may differ.)

The results are not particularly surprising, in line with what we already know of relative costs of living. But the “hours per week” metric is revealing: the most expensive locations require 100 hours per week or more (at the nominal $38/hour) to just get by [1]. Personally, I don’t think that’s feasible.

Sensei Seldon points out that this kind of calculation is an economic driver for “co-living” arrangements [2]. Or, I’d say, moving out of the city.

I don’t have precise statistics at hand, but a back of the envelope calculation indicates that even the cheapest major city are more expensive than living in a small town or small city. Assuming you can really charge NYC or Bay Area rates while living in a small city, my calculations say you can get the best space in town (with a yard for pets, kids, and a garden!) at about 25-30 hours per week.

It may not be as “exciting” as the big city, in all the unnamable ways that people like living in major urbs. But there is an affordable opportunity. And if you have connections to family and/or a major University, then this can be a quality lifestyle.

So, to the degree that Freelancing actually lets you actually live out here in the hinterland, and still have a good career, then it is a very interesting New Way of Work indeed.